[Bug 1290457] [NEW] boot from usb flash drive takes 10+ mins and runs slow

[codeslinger]

Public bug reported:

used the Startup Disk Creator to create a bootable flash disk with
UbuntuStudio 14.04 AMD64 Beta 1 (Alpha)

Booted from flash drive.   
Boot Menu appears very quickly
Verify Disk and Memory test behave normally

[Try Ubuntu Without Installing] takes 10 to 15 minutes to bring up the
login screen.  you see the busy splash while loading. hitting escape
showed a dozen error messages about being unable to access the CD, but
otherwise did not notice anything interesting.

Once it is finally running and you are finally logged in after another long wait
then some things behave normally such as DU, but other things are extremely slow.
for instance the web browser takes many minutes to open and display pages.  the desktop wallpaper never appeared.  apt-get took many minutes to unpack and configure a couple of small programs such as htop and iotop, but it downloaded them in 5 seconds.

I suspected at first that the problem was with (flash) disk writes, but
some tests with DD showed that the write speed was fine.  FIle read
speed also seems to be fine.  The first time that you try to do
something like display a  submenu on the main App Menu, it takes a very
long time to display, but after that it displays quickly, so obviously
there is memory buffering going on.

over-all the system is NOT usable when booted from the flash drive.
Frequent Long pauses occur when doing routine things.

However, when booted from a DVD, although the initial load seems to take
longer than usual with excessive thrashing of the DVD, but once loaded
everything behaves normally, speed is fine.  After installing to the
harddisk everything also behaves normally and boots quickly.

It is also worth noting that on this same computer I have successfully
booted and installed from a flash drive with 12.04, 12.10, 13.04, 13.10.

(not sure of the project/area, but a similar bug was using casper)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: casper 1.337
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-12.32-lowlatency 3.13.4
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-12-lowlatency x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.13.2-0ubuntu5
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.337
Date: Mon Mar 10 09:27:59 2014
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu-Studio 14.04 "Trusty Tahr" - Alpha amd64 (20140224)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: casper
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
mtime.conffile..etc.casper.conf: 2014-03-10T07:59:12.413937

** Affects: casper (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug trusty

** Attachment added: "bootinfoscript_resullt"
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1290457/+attachment/4017003/+files/RESULTS.txt

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1290457

Title:
  boot from usb flash drive takes 10+ mins and runs slow

Status in “casper” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  used the Startup Disk Creator to create a bootable flash disk with
  UbuntuStudio 14.04 AMD64 Beta 1 (Alpha)

  Booted from flash drive.   
  Boot Menu appears very quickly
  Verify Disk and Memory test behave normally

  [Try Ubuntu Without Installing] takes 10 to 15 minutes to bring up the
  login screen.  you see the busy splash while loading. hitting escape
  showed a dozen error messages about being unable to access the CD, but
  otherwise did not notice anything interesting.

  Once it is finally running and you are finally logged in after another long wait
  then some things behave normally such as DU, but other things are extremely slow.
  for instance the web browser takes many minutes to open and display pages.  the desktop wallpaper never appeared.  apt-get took many minutes to unpack and configure a couple of small programs such as htop and iotop, but it downloaded them in 5 seconds.

  I suspected at first that the problem was with (flash) disk writes,
  but some tests with DD showed that the write speed was fine.  FIle
  read speed also seems to be fine.  The first time that you try to do
  something like display a  submenu on the main App Menu, it takes a
  very long time to display, but after that it displays quickly, so
  obviously there is memory buffering going on.

  over-all the system is NOT usable when booted from the flash drive.
  Frequent Long pauses occur when doing routine things.

  However, when booted from a DVD, although the initial load seems to
  take longer than usual with excessive thrashing of the DVD, but once
  loaded everything behaves normally, speed is fine.  After installing
  to the harddisk everything also behaves normally and boots quickly.

  It is also worth noting that on this same computer I have successfully
  booted and installed from a flash drive with 12.04, 12.10, 13.04,
  13.10.

  (not sure of the project/area, but a similar bug was using casper)

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: casper 1.337
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-12.32-lowlatency 3.13.4
  Uname: Linux 3.13.0-12-lowlatency x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.13.2-0ubuntu5
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.337
  Date: Mon Mar 10 09:27:59 2014
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu-Studio 14.04 "Trusty Tahr" - Alpha amd64 (20140224)
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=xterm
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: casper
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  mtime.conffile..etc.casper.conf: 2014-03-10T07:59:12.413937

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